Sir, – Your photo on the Business page of last Saturday’s edition (26th June), of a line of at least eight unused Tesla car-charging stations prompts me to write to you about a contract between AppleGreen and Tesla under which some AppleGreen petrol stations install Tesla charging stations on their forecourts.
I learned about this when I visited the Birdhill petrol station just off the M7 in Co Tipperary recently to charge my Nissan Leaf. There are two “normal” charging stations here, plus six Tesla stations. One of the two “normal” stations wasn’t working at all – and hadn’t been for the previous fortnight, I was told by the regular EV owners who come here to charge up, and the other is in constant use, but the Tesla ones stand idle every day.
Which begs the question: where are all the Tesla cars for these stations?
There are very few charging stations in my county, according to Google, and not all are suitable for my type of car. Nor can I be sure they will work or be available when I arrive. And this is the case in the neighbouring counties too.
The Government and the ESB urge us to switch to EVs, but this lack of infrastructure, as well as the ludicrous anomaly of the unnecessary Tesla charging stations, do not encourage us to do so.
– Yours, etc,
CATHE CHAPPELL,
Cappamore,
Co Limerick.